


Venom Meets World

by Jonaira



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Venom (Comics), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: ! - Freeform, Alien Cultural Differences, Aliens, Angst, Badass, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Growing Up, Humor, Hungry Venom Symbiote (Marvel), I Blame Tumblr, If You Squint - Freeform, Inspired By Tumblr, Life Partners, Look At Your Life Look At Your Choices, Minor Eddie Brock/Venom Symbiote, Mutual Pining, Old Married Couple, Protective Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Recovery, Sarcasm, Slice of Life, Weird dreams, between eddie and annie, but it's mild i swear, cheerfully murderous pet alien parasite, dont call me that, driving your boss insane, eddie is a cinnamon role, eddie raises venom, lots of them - Freeform, maturing like a fine wine, pointy, venom is a cinnamon roll, welcome to the internet venom!, with teeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 07:38:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16551698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jonaira/pseuds/Jonaira
Summary: Or as I like to call it, VE(NOM NOM NOMs a lot)Based off that helpful tumblr post-If you bite it and you die, it's poisonous.If it bites you, and you die, it's venomous.If you bite each other, it's kinky.Then, there's always a combination of all of the above, plus - if it nibbles your bits but you love it anyway, it's just your pet sociopathic alien parasite.(Do NOT Call Me That !!)Or, how Eddie learnt to stop worrying and love the alien (Venom loves Peter Sellers and insists they watch Dr. Strangelove semi-regularly. Atleast he has good taste)





	Venom Meets World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thewhitecollarimp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewhitecollarimp/gifts).



Eddie remembers being run through with Riot's blade, he remembers the fall into the water; how the bottom fell out of his stomach on the way down, the slap-sting as he hit the surface (it still hurt less than the look in Anne's eyes all those months ago), the chill of the water as he sank. But the even deeper chill of loss, of the way his bones felt without Venom burrowing into them is what he remembered best.

  
His head broke the surface then, and Eddie swum to the shore, the burning flotsam of the spacecraft a nice scenic hellscape to mirror outside what he felt like inside.

  
Anne.  
He'd left her in the woods, but he knew she'd had to have found her way back, the sonic blast that tipped the scales in his favor had been her doing, his guardian angel who played ugly. She could be hurt, trapped, injured during Drake's rampage with Riot, she could -

  
"Nice moves out there Eddie," someone calls out to him. "Now c'mon up here to the land of us motals."

Anne reached out to him, smile shaky but relived and eyes suspiciously bright in the firelight. She pulled him over the edge, her strength surprising him as she crushed more than hugged him to her, not a care for the fact that he was probably soaking her through. Anne had always been the stronger of the two of them in all the ways that counted at the end of the day.

  
He would need her in the coming days more than ever, strength and fury and spirit, Eddie thought as he scrunched his eyes closed and tried not to think about how his atrophied heart was twinging worse than ever now that Venom was no longer around to gnaw at it.

  
***

  
The next couple of days are spent largely in a state of semi-consciousness. He's mostly asleep on Anne's (and Dan's- even in his half dead state Eddie remembers that she's no longer his) couch, since his own got blown up.

His dreams are mostly of Tater Tots and chocolate milk and other than the vague impression of feeling like a five-year old, he forgets them as soon as he wakes up for a few minutes at a time to gulp down whatever broth and solid food Anne has put out for him and to stumble to the restroom. He wakes up on occasion to throw off the blanket someone keeps putting on him. Dan checks up on his vitals as he slumbers, barely waking him to take his blood pressure periodically, and Eddie sort of sleepily hates how much he likes Dan. When he wakes up for good on the second day, his head is killing him and his body feels like one giant bruise, stiff as a board, but the golden slant of light through the windows in the hall is soft and slowly turning from gilded to pink to purple.

  
It’s peaceful.

  
Eddie figured Anne and Dan would be home soon enough. The least he could do was cook them dinner, and that was exactly what he'd get down to doing once his nausea passed, his knees stopped impersonating Jell-O and he'd brushed his teeth.

  
There's a flicker in his peripheral vision and then the cat jumps onto the coffee table and surveys him regally.

He looks at the cat.

The cat looks at him.

And then his gut gives a painful lurch just at the same moment that Mr. Belvedere's fur stands on end and he hisses nastily at Eddie. With a loud yowl the feline leapt off the table and darted off to wherever it usually skulked when scared. _Weird_ thought Eddie as he shuffled to the guest bathroom, ignoring his now obviously manifesting hunger pangs. Pets were usually neutral to him. Mr. Belvedere had never much liked him, but this open hostility was new. Like that dog in the hospital.

Suddenly, his fingers are cold with adrenaline and his heart is pounding, definitely not feeling like the weakened organ he'd been told it was.

"Venom ?" he whispered. "You still up my ass buddy ?"

His head, and arse, stayed worryingly quiet.

"Because you weren't the best houseguest ever, but you saved my life and if you were to crawl back up it wouldn't be the worst thing to happen." he tried again. Still no reply.

Eddie sighed and tried to tamp down the wave of loss that rolled over him. _Am I a masochist ?_ he wondered as brushed.  
The rush of raw power, the feeling of capability Venom had brought to him when he'd been at his lowest in life wasn't that crazy to think of wistfully. But the price it came at, the insidious damage to his body, the neurosis and mental instability, the constant desire to eat anything that had even a semblance of a nervous system wasn't easy to reconcile.

Still, for a being that he spent as brief a period of time with, it sure hurts to see just his own reflection, a little worse for the wear but resolutely just tired old Eddie Brock without the nightmare fangs and pearlescent peepers smirking back at him.

Until that very face flickered across his for a split second, enough to send him stumbling back so quickly from the basin that he tripped and fell over partways into the commode.

When he glanced back up, Venom's dear, ugly face was staring unblinkingly back at him from the mirror, looking ridiculous poking out from Eddie's borrowed fluffy robe, precariously balanced on the commode as he was.

It wasn't like before, where he could feel the alien poking around in his head, looking for a comfortable bit of mental real estate to set up shop. This time was much less...alien, so to say. Less intrusive. Like a polite guest asking to maybe come in for a chat. It's a novel experience, Eddie's usual associates usually aren't the visiting kind. Or the polite type either.

Eddie became aware of a strange mix of emotions; he can tell they're mostly Venom's. Not overpowering, but insistent at the same time. Affection, Uncertainty, Hunger. Contrition ? More Hunger. Or atleast Venom's alien version of those emotions filtered and translated into human ones he understood.

"You said I had pretty eyes."

Eddie blinked. Venom blinked in the mirror. "I never said that."

"Well you thought it. So I took it as a sign that maybe you'd be willing to talk, Eddie."

Eddie goggled at the alien for a moment. "I just asked you if you wanted back in! Wait, was that _you_ sulking all this time ?!"

Eddie realized that the dampness creeping up his robe was toilet water from where he'd landed gracelessly on the pot and clambered out cursing.

"That was me recovering from the fight." Venom sounds cold for the first time. Eddie swallowed, suddenly ashamed.

"The explosion- all that fire. I thought you were dead," he got out, throat suddenly tight even as he held an actual Eau de Toilette reeking robe. Shit, this was Anne's favourite one.

"So did I. It was a humbling experience," Venom mused. The alien reached out a shadowy limb from behind Eddie and pulled the bottle of bleach out from the bathroom cabinet, the same place it had been kept when Eddie called this flat home. Intuitive as ever. Venom continued as Eddie went about sterilizing the robe. "It helped me better understand why you were so angry with me earlier when you found out about your organ damage. Knowledge of your own imminent demise is disturbing."

Eddie tried to radiate a strong sense of incredulity but allowed Venom to go on uninterrupted now that he was on a roll.

"It is a difficult concept for us symbiotes to grasp. We simply move onto a new host. We are not limited by the bodies we choose." Venom paused, a sense momentousness building up before he continued.

"Until now Eddie. When you are no longer just a tasty meat sack that I can stay in for a while and then snack on and move from. If you will willingly host me for longer, that is. I will give you that choice."

"Gee thanks for giving me a choice to not get eaten from the inside out," Eddie muttered as he scrubbed away at the robe. Still, he sensed that Venom wasn't done yet.

"I am very awesome," Venom continued, (Not where I expected this to go, thought Eddie)"so I will take my own very good advice. I realised while bored and hungry, when you were busy being boring and asleep, that I had never apologized for eating you. It was more of a nibble really, you're tasty that way, positively lovely when garnished with a bit of epinephrine-"

"This turn of conversation really isn't actually reassuring-"

"That I shouldn't have taken you for granted Eddie, even though you are tasty, weaker and a bigger loser than I am."

"You need to look up mixed signals buddy because-"

"I am sorry I hurt you. I do not wish to do it again, and will understand if you wish for me to seek a new host. I won't even take a bite of you on my way out-"

"Oh thanks a shitload-"

"And as a sign of my apology, I have healed your heart and your other silly little organs that I'd hurt in my previous stay, as I had promised to do before."  
And then just like that, the soft dark feel of Venom in his head, like falling back into a pile of the finest soot, receded and Eddie was left alone.

  
***

  
The robe is nearly done in the wash cycle, dinner for Anne and Dan smells great on the stove, the cat is fed and Eddie is miserable.

He hadn't even felt the Venom sponsored twinge of hunger that manifested on looking at live meat when he shooed the cat away from the cooking food. The stupid feline kept sticking it's nose too close to the fire anyway, and unsurprisingly enough, it was Eddie who got burnt off the pan. Hissing, he automatically went to suck his finger, except when he looked at it the pain was gone. The little patch of redness was shrinking and disappeared before his eyes.

And then, Eddie decided that he was done with being miserable. He didn't have the job he loved, but atleast he'd still tried to do it by leaving the photos for his boss to find.

He didn't have the woman he loved, but atleast he'd tried to make amends.

It would be stretching the truth to say Eddie loved Venom, but the symbiote was arguably one of the better things to have happened to him recently, and if there were two things Eddie was good at, it was zeroing in on the smallest of opportunities and putting his life at risk to achieve something bigger.

"Venom, if you're done being the bigger person, uh, parasite, alien, whatever, I'd like to have you back where you belong." Eddie said aloud, sitting down at the table.

And just like that, the light is suddenly brighter, details of objects sharper, the smell of food both more intense but less appealing and -

"Can we eat the cat now ?"

"That's Anne's cat, Venom. Remember Anne ? You and she teamed up to help me ? She wouldn't be very happy if you ate her cat and you know what she's like when she isn't happy don't you ? Do you want to do that to her ?" Eddie reasoned.

Venom shuddered mentally.  
"I don't want to do that to us" he said. A pause. "Chocolate milk ?"

Eddie tried to tamp down the rush of fondness he felt at Venom's request. It was endearingly childlike coming from a nightmare monster like Venom.

He's halfway through the mug of cocoa when Venom says, "She may hurt me if we ate her cat, but she wouldn't hurt you."  
Eddie tried not to spew milk. "Why do you say that ?" he coughed.

"Because she's still wants to suck your face off."

This time, Eddie does spew chocolate and hurriedly has to mop it up off the pristine tablecloth.

Venom continued in the same philosophical tone. "I believe you humans call it kissing."

"That's really not what kissing entails-"

"She certainly wants to stick her tongue down your throat, then. I'm particularly good at sticking my tongue places," Venom snickered.

Eddie could feels his ears burning.  
"She definitely wants your tongue between her legs too, but that seems unproductive to me," Venom went on apparently oblivious to the havoc he was wrecking on Eddie's mental state.

Eddie shook his head hard. "How do you even know all this ?" he asked gruffly.

"I was in Anne's head, don't you remember? I felt everything she's ever felt towards you while in there. It's fiery, sharp, bright. I usually avoid heat, but the heat she feels towards _you_...it is invigorating."

Eddie cleared his throat. "Lusting after someone and wanting to be with them aren't mutually inclusive," he said, all the while feeling like a fraud because that's exactly how he still felt about Anne.

"But she still cares for you, does she not ? She was willing to bond with me even though she knew the damage I could do to her body were we not compatible, all to come and save you." Venom, sounded surprisingly kind.

Eddie cleared his throat (and immediately felt stupid for doing it considering he could use his mental voice). "She's with Dan now. And she's happy. After all I've done to her, the least I could do is let her have this."

"But she would be happier with you. _Was_ happier with you."

"I'm not doing that to them. Dan's a great guy and he's been good to us even when we were just Annie's batshit ex."

"This is why you're a loser, Eddie. Just letting some other male steal your woman. I'm not letting that happen to us."

Before Eddie can retort that Anne isn't a _thing_ for him own (One of their best dates had been going out for Mad Max: Fury Road- Anne had loved everything about that movie and the thought of the night that had followed still made him hot around the collar, even if it hurt like hell to think about it now. She'd always insisted that he looked a bit like the guy playing Max), the key's turning in the lock and Dan is walking in.

Eddie rises to do- well, something. Welcoming Dan to his own home seems stupid, but Dan gets over his surprise quickly enough and shoots Eddie a smile. "Good to see you up Eddie. Something smells great," he said sniffing appreciatively.

"Yeah, I ah, thought I could uh, do something. For you guys. Because of everything the last couple of days."

"That's alright Eddie. Things have been crazy lately, and you've dealt with all of this madness remarkably well. I'm just glad we got that parasite out of you-"

He's interrupted by a low growl.

Dan blinked while Eddie thought _shut up shut up shut up_ as emphatically as he could.  
"Heh, guess cooking's made my stomach rumbly. You wanna grab a plate Dan ?" Eddie laughed feebly.

Dan was still looking around suspiciously. "I'm going to wait for Annie to get back, she shouldn't be too long now. You should go ahead though Eddie, you're on the mend right now and you need the nutrition. Which I see you've been taking care of, " he added with a smirk at the jar of cocoa powder Eddie hadn't yet put back in.

"I'll wait for her to get back too." he said, strongly resisting the urge to scratch the back of his head like a damn schoolboy. Dan is just nice. It also occurred to him that this is first time it's only been just the two of them without Anne as a buffer between them. Apparently, Dan has the same realization because suddenly, he starts swaying forwards and backwards like a socially awkward pendulum before he jabs a thumb over his shoulder. “I’m gonna go take a shower then," he announced loudly just as Eddie said, "I'll see to the wash," and by silent agreement both set things up to not have to talk until Anne got back.

"That went really well !" Venom added.

  
***

  
"Eddie, this is amazing. Annie here always mentioned how good of a cook you were," Dan mentioned smilingly over dinner.  
"Always mentioned ?" Anne raised an eyebrow at Dan.

"Sure, every time I've tried to cook for you." He shrugged. "In my defense, I could burn water," he added good naturedly in an aside to Eddie.

Anne rolled her eyes fondly at Dan and Eddie's heart twinged.  
"This is an amazing meal though Eddie, Thankyou so much." She looks beautiful in the soft lighting of the dining room, and the way she meets his eyes seem to say a lot more.

"Least I could do," he mumbled back, looking at his barely touched plate. Venom didn't seem to share the general consensus about Eddie's cooking skills, and wanted something decidedly more squirmy than pasta.

"Oh, hey, you were still out for the count so we didn't tell you, but guess who called for you." Anne said suddenly.

Eddie just shook his ahead in confusion. He didn't have friends other than his ex-fiancé and her current lover (which, _wow_ , not pathetic at all). Or  _friends_ in general in Frisco, who knew what he'd been through and cared enough to call. Unlikely that the place hiring dishwasher's was calling back, and anyway he'd left his phone at the Network's headquarters...

"No way, he actually called back ?! But how ?"

Anne shrugged a little too nonchalantly. "My number was still listed as your emergency contact in the Network's database, so your old boss called me up. Dan picked up actually,"

Dan laughed a little uneasily, "He mentioned something about you being a stubborn son of a bitch, and him willing to do the right thing now that these might be the inside details regarding the Life Foundation rocket explosion. And that _you're_ the shithead...?" He trailed off meekly.

"He also said he was sorry, and that he should have trusted you," Anne added, her gaze piercing. Dan was continuing in the background, "...I mean I knew taking down big guys wasn't going to look pretty from behind the scenes but now that I've seen the toll it takes on you, I'm even more in awe..." but Eddie only had eyes for Annie.

"Congratulations," she told him softly. "They want you back," she smiled at him.

(" _Romance_ , ugh." Venom adds with feeling.)

 

***

 

  
Eddie stays up a long time that night. He's upgraded from the couch to the guest bedroom now that he's mobile, but considering Venom barely allowed him to eat anything at dinner ("I am still willing to eat the cat, even though fur gives me indigestion,") sleep is a distant luxury.

After another hour of tossing and turning, trying to get his stomach to stop rumbling, Eddie gave up and looked at his watch. 3:24 am was late enough for a midnight snack. Hopefully Anne still kept Tater Tots in the deep freezer. He was willing to eat them frozen at this point. They had started out as his quota of junk food back when they were together, but she'd come to grow disturbingly fond of them as well.

He lucked out. Eddie had just stuck a plateful of them into the microwave to heat when Venom hissed "Behind you!" a moment before someone said "Hey" quietly. He still jumped nearly a foot, but managed not to scream as he turned to face Anne.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." She didn't sound all that sorry though, more curious. They had both always been light sleepers. Eddie got it; he too would be distrustful of somebody he found sneaking around his house at fuck'o'clock at night who had been, until very recently, possessed by a cheerfully psychopathic alien. "You flatter me," Venom purred.

"Got hungry," Eddie stated, just as Anne asked "Comfort food ?"

The microwave dinged.  
Eddie cleared his throat. "Care to join my moonlight banquet ? Old time's sakes."  
Anne hesitated for barely a moment, but pulled out a chair and made herself comfortable.

"I wanted to thank you for taking me in these last couple of days. Both you and Dan." It was easier to get this out while he busied himself pulling the snacks out of the microwave when he didn't have to meet her eyes.

"I'll get out of your hair tomorrow morning. Don't want to overstay my welcome." Eddie set the plate down at the table.

"That's a nice sentiment Eddie, but have you even thought things through ? Your apartment is thrashed, the police haven't yet figured out that it was you who it was rented out to, but they eventually will and then it's only a matter of time before they come asking questions." She took a breath and continued, "and also, you've been wearing Dan's pajamas for the the better part of 2 days."

"Hey, I've lived rougher. Plus, I'm cool with Superman," he said gesturing to the little 'S' symbol on the pockets of the otherwise unremarkable sweatpants.

Anne sighed. "Can we be adults about this for just one minute Eddie ? If this is about living with your ex-fiancé and her current boyfriend ("Sick burn," piped up Venom) while you literally don't have anywhere to live because evil scientist goons decided to throw a party at your place and you out the window," ("Technically, I jumped," Eddie felt it important to add. She ignored him) "then grow a pair and suck it up at least until you find yourself a new place. It isn't like you're a stranger around here anyway," she added dryly.

Eddie sat back in his chair. "As appealing as you make that sound-"

Anne opened her mouth to retort but Eddie ploughed on. “-No, really I've done stuff a lot more emasculating in the last few months, this would be a breeze," he continued, “but I'm done with leaving behind my messes for you to clean up. If the cops do come looking for me, they don't need to come find me here, in your home. Nobody new deserves to be terrified by that cat," he broke off as Anne threw a Tater Tot at him (he ignored Venom sneaking out a little black tendril to retrieve it from the floor under the table). The 

"Seriously though Annie, to take the cat metaphor ahead, I've really landed on my feet this time."

She studied Eddie in the dim light from the street outside.  
"You've always had good instincts Eddie, and I know you can take care of yourself. But you need to recognize when something takes more than just you to deal with it and learn to ask for help, or accept it when offered. I'd have thought you would have had that figured out after your experience with Venom."

And with that, Anne got up and left the room, leaving Eddie feeling like he'd got the story but lost a loyal source.

 

  
***

 

  
He's got nothing to wear to a Welcome-back-you-were-right-about-the-evil-mastermind meeting with his ex-boss. They don't teach you the dress code for this sort of thing in college.

But his outfit from the fight, beat up jeans now artfully peppered with burn holes and the old grey hoodie with a giant hole dead center where Riot stabbed him through had been salvaged and washed after Anne and Dan got him home. He figured why the hell not. Might as well look the part of everything he and Venom had been through to get the damn proof. The huge bloodstain around the gaping hole in the front is now merely a faded huge bloodstain.

Getting to his meeting is a whole different ball game. As far as they're concerned, Anne and Dan had no idea he was going to cut a deal with the network that morning. There's no question of getting a lift with them and his bike is totalled and probably still somewhere in the Life Foundation facility, confiscated by Treece.

"We're going to remedy that right now. I like that bike." Venom told him businesslike the moment they were alone. Eddie found it interesting how he could now pick up the nuances in Venom's voice when earlier it just sounded like the personification of a blade being sharpened over stone.

"Sure, we're just going to walk into the Life Foundation and tell the cops, hey sorry guys, just here to pick up my illegally confiscated wheels. Stay loose, man."

"Yes! Finally you are getting it Eddie ! I knew taking a lick at your oligodendrocytes would greatly improve your logic."

Eddie automatically clutched his head in horror, not that it would serve any purpose. "Are you eating my brain ?!" he squeaked. “You know that shit doesn't regenerate, right ?! Oh my god, you're completely nuts and now you're gonna turn me batshit too-"

"Calm down Eddie you weren't the brightest to start out with-"

"That's my _brain_ !"

"Oh all right, I haven't done any damage that wasn't already there before. Might have improved things around here a bit even."

Eddie sat down heavily and dropped his head into his hands. This would have been a good trigger for a headache, except he knows Venom is keeping it at bay, aware of the way his pulse is steady even though his fingers are cold with adrenaline.

"Venom," he started, voice breaking embarrassingly. He tried again. "This is exactly the kind of thing you apologized for Venom, when we agreed to to this. No more messing with my body, no more _threatening_ to mess with my body and for fuck's sake, no jokes about messing with my body. Do you get that ?"

"Boo, you whore."

"That's...really not how it's used."

"Fine! But you're no fun."

"We're talking about infiltrating a private fortress, now heavily covered by all sorts of federal authorities to find my totalled bike without being seen and getting it out too without being seen. Our plan is supposed to be functional, not fun."

"Can't spell functional without the fun."

"I don't know whether to be proud or horrified that you're picking up humor that doesn't involve threatening evisceration. Plus, how do we even know it's still there ?"

"We don't."

"And you don't see a flaw in this plan ?"

"How about this plan- You let me handle everything."

"Venom, the last time you handled the cops, we nearly ate a guy."

"And I still regret that we didn't finish the job. Speaking of eating a guy,"

"No. No no no. No eating people. Period."

"Treece ?"

"Ok maybe him."

"Deal !"

 

  
***

 

  
Unbelievably, it works. Eddie would like to say it involved a cold and bracing swim across the bay, but he was tucked up all snug and warm while Venom sped under the water, eating a few fish and one unlucky octopus for breakfast on the way too. Eddie found it sort of adorable, the way Venom swam through a school of fish and then spent a couple of minutes chasing down the darting flashes of silver.

Like he'd predicted, the facility is crawling with agents from all possible agencies, SFPD, ATS, FBI, Interpol, CIA, you name it and even more ones you can't name. As they hang under the chassis of one of the trucks making its way into the facility, Eddie picks up a lot case discussion.

"...real piece of work... found more bodies in the lab... his own scientist... Drake's probably killed more people than even Cletus Cassidy at this point..."

He needed to visit Dr.Skirths' family. Tell her kids their mum died hero, protecting them until the very end. Tell her husband his wife had saved many other innocent people from being slaughtered in the name of a madman's mission for evolution. How much she loved them. He needed to tell people the story of this lady who came to him as Dr.Skirth, just a scientist who was looking out for her own family, but who died Dora Skirth, a hero.

Eddie was going to make the Network a lot of money with this story, and then he was gonna cut loose and tell people things exactly the way he saw them.

"With me by your side now, it wouldn't work for you to be on TV anyway," Venom told him as they made their way to the garage. "We can go to otherwise unreachable locations, scale buildings and get to places where we can scare the shit out of people for information. Which would be a lot easier to ignore if not happening in front of a silly little camera crew. I could always eat them for you," he offered magnanimously.

Eddie marveled at the ease of conversation even as they flattened themselves against the ceiling of the garage as they tried to spot the bike and waited for it to mostly clear out of cops.

"I'd been thinking of writing more anyway before I got fired." he agreed. “Work the harder, more dangerous cases now that I'm significantly more bullet proof."

"I always knew you just wanted me for my body," Venom tells him.

And then they spot their bike, and it's business in silence until the dry bike (Venom just sheathed the thing) is back on dry land on the right side of the bay. Incredibly enough, scratched and dented as it is, when Venom extends a key shaped tendril into the ignition, it splutters and starts.(Eddie doesn't want to take that as a metaphor for what his future is looking like, but it's not a bad metaphor if he does)

 

  
***

 

  
They parked outside the Network building, ignoring the stares they got from the suits passing by. Eddie took a deep breath. The Venom Express up was out of the question in broad daylight, and eitherway, if they were rehiring him, he shouldn't have to worry about being allowed back in. Though maybe not dressed the way he was.

"Your little brain worries about so much, all the time. You really should meditate, Eddie." Venom told him sagely.

"Oh great, now you and Mrs. Chen are going to be best friends.” he muttered darkly.

Walking into the lobby drew even more gazes than outside and the room burst into whispers. The guards from the far corners of the room started to converge towards him, but they were waved off before any shit got started by Richard.

"Hey Eddie! Boss cleared you for entry. Good to have you back. I can't lie though man, you look like shit," he said nodding to his artfully distressed clothing.

Eddie couldn't help beaming back.  
"Still better looking than this place," he nodded to the structural mess that was left over from the fight with the SWAT team in the lobby."Infact, I'm surprised to see it's business as usual. No ongoing investigation ?"

Richard shrugged. "You know how it is, time is money and all that jazz. They cleared it for structural integrity and that was all they needed to get back to work apparently. Plus, cops haven't told us anything so far, just that there was some kind of monster that appeared outta nowhere and was overpowered but escaped."

"Out of nowhere huh ? Overpowered? And they have no idea about how it got into the building or why it chose this particular building ?" Eddie asked, keeping his tone as disinterested as possible.

Richard shrugged once again. "Nada, hermano. If they do know, they sure ain't telling. Just that the bosses' office window was the only top floor structure broken, though they can't figure out how or even if it's connected to this thing that attacked them. Dark as night and lotsa teeth. Eh, you how it is these days with gods and monsters and everything in between dropping from the skies."

His expression shifted into something a lot more uncomfortable then. "Listen brother, I'm sorry about the way things went down between us the other night."

Eddie cut him off before he could go on. "Hey, no no, don't apologize for that Richard. You were doing your job, man, and I was not making it easy for you, that's all."

"No hard feelings ?"

"Never, my man." Eddie pulled him in for a hug.

Richard pulled back and studied him looking concerned. "Seriously though, how are you holding up ?"

Eddie smirked. "You know what, I'm actually a lot better now. Been meditating, even, yeah. Working on letting go and keeping the past in the past, all Hakuna Matata and shit. It got a lot easier once I got all the venom out of my system, y'know ?"

 

  
***

 

  
"Jesus Eddie, you look like shit," Lewis recoiled, eyes fixed on the ragged hole in Eddie's sweatshirt.  
"Yeah I'm getting real tired of people telling me that. Hello, Lewis. I wish I could say it was nice to meet you and mean it." Eddie dropped into the seat in front of the big desk without invitation. He was past the point of that politeness with someone who wasn't his boss. Yet.  
Donate sighed. "Look Eddie, I'm sorry about how things had to end between you and the Network, but I take it you're here because you're considering my offer of coming back ?"  
Eddie nodded. Let his gaze roam around the room, noted how the window panel they'd smashed through was already fixed unlike the public lobby and decided to feel slightly less like an asshole for what he was about to do to Lewis next. The man had taken a chance with hiring him after New York, but it had been more a result of Lewis being a great businessman and talent scout first, and instinctively recognizing that Eddie was good business, rather than out of the goodness of his heart.  
Lewis waited a bit impatiently for Eddie's next words, which when weren't forthcoming got him to try and fall back on his old powerplay moves.  
Control the conversation. Lay down the terms that worked best for him first. "Well then, you know the paperwork, it's all the same old forms you'd signed when we first took you on. We will have permission to film the exposé in a couple of days from now, and I want you to be ready with your notes for the reveal when we move forward with the taping."  
Eddie got a little more comfortable in his seat.  
"So basically, you've been working on getting the permissions to film on-site from all the investigating agencies ever since that fireball lit up the sky, haven't you ? Just out of curiosity, and humor me here, who exactly were you planning to ask to do the reveal in the first place ?" Eddie raised an eyebrow at him.  
Donate scoffed. "It was only ever going to be you, you're the only one cut out for this sort of thing-"  
Eddie snapped forward. "Don't bullshit me Lewis. The only reason you need me, yeah, need me and not just want me or prefer me on this case is because nobody else has my notes on this case." The vein in Lewis' forehead was growing prominent and he opened his mouth to retort but Eddie cut him off before that.  
"All the channel had as proof were my pictures. Very convincing pictures at that, enough to get investigations into the Life Foundation opened for sure, but nothing for the channel to report, no immediate, juicy, scandalous results of these investigations. All the Network would have done would have been to blow the whistle. You guys aren't whistle blowers. That good guy Greg schtick doesn't get you views, or awards for that matter. All you had were a bunch of pictures, with no context. Amateur reporting, not some you'd personally want to be associated with." Eddie watched Lewis' face get stonier and stonier as he spoke, until he looked like the lines in his face were permanently etched in. Lewis knew there was more though, and kept his mouth shut. Eddie went on with relish. "A good story though, with facts and research to back up pictures is fireproof and makes the channel look a whole lot more credible than Fox news."  
Lewis snorted. Eddie thought he might've seen something fly out of Lewis' nose.  
"Yeah sorry, the Fox bit was a bit too harsh." Eddie winced. "But my point still stands- you're a perfectionist. If you break a story, you break it well." The or not at all was implied.  
"You're a slave to your own High standards. Which is why you need me, the only guy who's actually got the full story, before the cops and before any other channel stumble across something that sounds credible. "You want the best, and right now, the pool of talent you have to choose from consists of exactly one person."  
Donate slowly uncoiled from where he'd been sitting in thunderous silence. Lewis had always pulled contradictions nicely. "Well played Eddie. You got me. I see the long break from work has done wonders for your modesty."  
Eddie let Lewis have the quip; he had Lewis' balls in a vice grip.  
"Either way, we want you back. Not just for this story, but for the long haul. You may be a pain in my ass Eddie," Eddie noted the lack of any sugar coating that Lewis would have applied even just six months earlier with some grim satisfaction. Atleast they were getting real now.  
"But you're damn good at what you do, and I'm willing to concede to whatever raise you're going demand."  
This time it was Eddie's turn to snort, which he manfully resisted.  
"You think a pay raise is going to cut it ?"  
"6%"  
Eddie starts getting up.  
"Fine, 12% ok ?"  
"20%."  
Lewis snort-scoffed impressively. Eddie was a little concerned about the microbiological state of Lewis' desk at this point. "You're looting us."  
Eddie shrugged.  
Lewis glared at him for a bit but conceded at the end of a fruitless staring session. Venom didn't allow Eddie's eyes to dry out at all the entire time so he didn't even end up blinking once, bless Venom's murderous heart.  
"Fine. You'll get your money."  
"I want the cash upfront." Nobody needed to know exactly how broke he was.  
Donate rolled his eyes. "Also fine."  
"And I work on a case by case basis. I get my paycheck after every episode, and not after a company decided bloc of episodes. That needs to be reworked into my contract." No need to tell Lewis that he was getting out of the Network as soon as he broke this one single story, and was then going to jump into writing.  
Lewis gave him the stink eye once again. "That's going to take a while, paperwork always does you know."  
Eddie shrugged. "Oh I can wait until it's done. Three days, a week, whatever. Give other channels time to do their own investigations, piece together what should rightfully be only our story. Y'know, not strike while the iron is hot and we're the only one breaking this story so it'll have most impact. Yeah, I can absolutely wait for my contract to get updated at the usual pace. Ooh, also, I'm going to require use of the company penthouse at the Hilton. Since chasing this story got my place bombed by the Life Foundation goons."  
The vein in Lewis' forehead was throbbing worryingly so now.  
"Fine. I'll have your updated contract ready within the hour, and you can collect the company card and book yourself into the Hilton. But let me tell you, you're one cold bastard, Brock. What happened to the old idealistic Eddie who exposed a story and took down the bad guys not because of a fat paycheck, but because he believed it was the right thing to do ?"  
Eddie rose from his comfy seat. "You fired his idealistic ass six months ago. Good doing business with you Lewis!"  
And he swiped his phone which had been sitting on Lewis' desk and walked out without a backwards glance.  
("He looked ready to rip off heads," Venom, who definitely did the backwards glance tells Eddie delightedly)  
***  
He's on his bike, flying down the freeway when his pulse finally slowed down. The credit card and contract are tucked into the waistband of his jeans and he needs to buy himself new, non-alien savaged clothes before checking into the Hilton lest they throw him out like Julia Roberts in the posh clothes store.  
"I don't understand that reference,". Venom cut into his thoughts.  
"'S Pretty Woman. Nice movie. We could watch it together sometime." Eddie murmured back. "I still can't believe we pulled that off. Maybe I have changed since after you bonded with me. Maybe I've gotten colder, more ruthless."  
It's a worrying prospect.  
“Or maybe your balls finally dropped," Venom quips. Eddie squawked indignantly, which didn't sound all that great going at 60 miles per hour. "I'm quite attracted to you right now, infact. We could do something about that. Should do something." Venom tells him.  
Eddie decides this conversation can wait (for so long that it never even happens)  
"Hmm, I've just gone though your memories of Pretty Woman. We don't need to watch it again." Venom added a few minutes.  
"And they say romance isn't dead," Eddie muttered.  
***  
"Whoa." says Anne when she walks into the apartment that evening, earlier than Dan this time, and sees Eddie at the dining table.  
He didn't really have to come back to the house, seeing that none of his stuff was there anymore. But Eddie used the spare key that had always been taped under the sad little Aloe plant pot and let himself back into the house. He would have felt like too much of a heel if he'd left for the Hilton without even saying goodbye, not to mention worrying the hell out of Anne (and possibly Dan) if he just disappeared the next day following the kind of conversation they'd had the previous night.  
Except Eddie hadn't been expecting the way Anne's eyes would rake over his body, up from the deep blue shirt, down to the dark slacks he'd got himself gleefully on the company's card. (Just let me look at something we like for awhile, and you'll never need to buy any outfit again," Venom had said and then promptly morphed into an Ironman suit around Eddie from the poster in the men's changing cubicle.)  
It made his throat tighten and his heartbeat get loud enough in his ears so he nearly didn't catch what she said next.  
"You took Lewis's offer didn't you ?"  
"I did. With a few conditions of my own, of course. You aren't gonna ask how I got there without cash ?"  
Anne set her bag down with a snort and hung up her coat."You're a lot of things Eddie, but helpless isn't one of them, especially when you really want something. Plus, I saw your bike parked down. If anything, I want to know who made you go voluntarily shopping for something other than a hoodie and jeans. God knows you bitched up a storm whenever I tried to get you out with me."  
Eddie wrinkled his nose. He'd picked up the first set of respectable looking clothes in his size at Sears. He cleared his throat. "I'm staying at the Hilton until I figure out my apartment situation. Figured they wouldn't let in somebody who'd looked like they'd been part of a four-way alien smackdown, no matter how pretty my face may be."  
"Oh. Oh," said Anne, straightening up a bit, and then looking strangely...happier.  
"Wait, how did you pay for this stuff ?" she asked sharply.  
"I didn't take any of the emergency cash you keep, if that's what you're asking." Eddie bristled, hurt.  
Anne shook her head impatiently. "I know you wouldn't. You're sneaky, but not a thief. No, you haven't been to meet some of your shadier contacts have you ? The kind who'd give you cash and an unlisted gun with no questions asked," she finished worriedly.  
Eddie realised with a shock that this was her concern for him, still showing after all this time and all the crap he'd put her through in the interim.  
With a grin brought on by the reminder of her still prevalent care for him (as if the last few days hadn't been obvious enough), he wiggled the credit card at her. "The Network's got me covered."  
"You sure they aren't gonna take this all out of your next paycheck, right ?" She called over her shoulder as she rinsed her hands in the sink.  
"See, I was engaged to this incredible lawyer for long enough that it definetly crossed my mind that they would try to do something like that, so I'm reworking parts of my new contract."  
At Anne's deadpan look, he asked, "Too soon ?"  
"Too soon." she agreed, amusement well hidden but very much present for someone who knew to look for it.  
He grinned at her, feeling light and vaguely bubbly. Anne matched his smile with one of her own, on the verge saying something when they heard the key turn in the front door lock. The moment broke and Dan shuffled in, juggling boxes of takeout. "I picked up Italian, hope you guys are okay with that," he said as Eddie and Anne hurried to take the boxes from him. Dan straightened up gratefully."Thought I'd give everyone a night off from cooking," he smiled. Stupid, nice, handsome, thoughtful doctor, goddamn it. Eddie suddenly felt like soda gone flat.  
"Hey, I thought you liked my cooking," Anne raised her very expressive, slightly dangerous eyebrow.  
Dan looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an eighteen-wheeler.  
It was at that point that he seemed to notice Eddie's dressy clothes and relieved to change the subject asked about it.  
"Kind of a long story actually," Eddie replied evasively, shooting a quick look at Anne, who kept her face impassive.  
"Oh hey, just tell us over dinner," he said cheerfully as he too washed his hands. Eddie resisted the urge to shove his unwashed hands into his pockets. Goddamn civilized adults. Dan paused then. "You are staying for dinner right ?" he asked.  
"I was uh, actually on my way out." Eddie tried not to shift his weight from foot to foot. And then on some crazy impulse, as compensation added, "But you guys should totally come over for dinner sometime, once I sort out my place." With dawning mortification at the situation he'd just set up, he hastily tacked on,"if you'd like, that is." hoping against hope that it would be a nice, succinct, nope.  
"Hey, yeah, that would be great !" Dan replied like the damn cinnamon roll that he was. Surprisingly enough though, Anne's nodded too, smiling warmly.  
"I'll see you out," she told Eddie gesturing towards the hall, and Eddie couldn't jump on the out she'd given him any quicker before his tongue wrecked any more havoc on his mental peace.  
He hesitates at the doorway though, and Anne too doesn't close the door as soon as she's free of needing to be civil to Eddie in front of Dan. Her smile is small, but genuine. "Don't be a stranger Eddie. We don't have to end up a cliché, you know." she tells him, as if reading the reason for what he thought was his well hidden mortification earlier. Being able to read minor facial expressions of your once-fiancée works both ways apparently. Or maybe he was just painfully obvious. Eddie would like to think it was the former.  
"I'm going to take you up on that," he nodded.  
"Try to keep out of trouble, Brock. Waaait sorry, forgot who I was talking to. Try not to get into too much trouble," she winked.  
"Who me ? Trouble ? I'll have you know, trouble and I have a steady friends-with-benefits deal going on." Eddie replied with a sudden burst of confidence.  
Anne rolled her eyes fondly, but still didn't close the door. "And is trouble the only one or is it maybe sharing with a human entity as well ?"  
Eddie doesn't realize what she was asking until he does and then oh. Oh. Anne's studiously not meeting his eyes but he's too taken aback to answer with anything that isn't complete honesty.  
"Haven't been that much of a catch these past few months." he swallowed.  
"You're always a catch." The speed of her reply, and the way she meets his gaze makes his ears feel warm.  
"Anne ? You out there? " Dan calls out from the next room. "Yeah, coming !" She called back loudly, and Eddie realized how quiet they'd gotten, the way they'd talk on nights sandwiched between a long day of work and a lazy weekend morning.  
She turned back to him, looking a tad flustered.  
"I could look over that contract for you, make it real iron clad y'know ? God forbid one of your enforced expenditures be nice clothes right ?" she offered with a dry chuckle.  
Eddie cleared his throat. "Yeah, that would be. That would be great."  
Anne nodded. "See you around Eddie."  
"You too," Eddie found himself saying to the door that had closed nearly on his nose.  
Venom is surprisingly quiet until they're astride the bike and racing down the slope. "Why didn't you kiss her ?" he asked, point blank. Eddie nearly served into oncoming traffic. Apparently, Venom liked dropping his little nuggets of unnerving statements when they were going at high-speed and imminent painful death was a real possibility. Eddie didn't like the pattern he saw emerging.  
"Why would I do that ?" he managed.  
"Your eyes may be functional, but you're blind. Could you not smell the urge to mate coming off her ? Maybe I could do a few minor tweaks to your olfactory nerves..."  
Eddie spluttered. "Don't mess with my body ! I'm perfectly happy not smelling arousal in other humans."  
And then realizing that he was kind of missing the woods for the trees, he continued, "She was just being nice. Maybe she didn't expect to see me anytime again."  
"She was flirting. I'm not even from this planet and it was clear to me. Also, her first statement was asking you to be more familiar with her, and not a stranger. If that isn't an invitation to begin foreplay, I don't know what is, short of throwing herself at you."  
"Its just a turn of phrase, y'know, a way of saying we'll keep in touch." Eddie told him exasperatedly.  
"Physical touch."  
"No no no. Keep in touch, like, keep talking."  
"That's a good start."  
"Venom." Eddie told him firmly. “We’ve been over this before. She's with Dan. She's happy. And now that she maybe doesn't totally hate me anymore, we can have a civil conversation like perfectly reasonable adults and friendly ex's without me being a massive, presumptuous dick and thinking she still wants me."  
"But she does still want you."  
Eddie nearly throws his hands up before deciding that isn't the best idea on a bike. "You're incorrigible."  
"I know what our senses, mine and yours told us, and unlike you Eddie, I'm not lying to myself."  
"Look, Venom. I appreciate you saving my life, and having my back in general even if it's your own back that you're protecting as well, but you need to stay out of my love life."  
"You mean your lack of one."  
Eddie rolled his eyes.  
"Be that as it may. I've got a lot of more pressing shit to figure out, and your input would be more valuable there. We're not discussing this thing any further. Boundaries, ok ?"  
"Fine. You're right about the more pressing issues. Like how your stomach lining is looking more and more tasty by the minute. What do you plan to do about the food situation ?"  
Eddie couldn't stop the slow smile as he thought about Lewis's face at the bill he was gonna rack up on the company card. Might as well enjoy it while it lasted.  
"How do you feel about the best sashimi 'Frisco has to offer ?"  
***  
He doesn't take the contract to Anne when it gets mailed to him at the Hilton the next morning. (He'd forgotten what it felt like to be addressed as Sir at all, and took a moment to realize the bellhop holding out his mail was talking to him at the reception.) It's complicated. Part of the reason is that it would feel ridiculous to show up the very day after he left her couch. He isn't sure if she was just offering to be polite. But then again, Anne took her time seriously and didn't just offer her legal services gratis, or pro bono, to put it in her terms. He was touched that she offered at all. But, again, he'd learnt a thing or two about legal loopholes (and how to exploit them)in contracts during his time with Anne, bugging her with questions when she'd work in bed. Anne had never let him see the contracts and paperwork in full, ever the professional, but she'd point out relevant paragraphs and the kind of fine print that usually screwed somebody over.  
"Is paperwork really what you did in bed together ?" Venom sounded offended on Eddie's behalf. "I would have never guessed, with what she felt like as my host. All that coiled anger, vicious adrenaline. Delicious." The level of relish in Venom's voice is a tad alarming.  
Despite himself, and his own insistence to not talk about Anne with Venom, Eddie found himself asking about the experience of bonding with her.  
Venom sounded contemplative. "She was a much better host than any of those people forced on me in that horrible lab, but nowhere near the level of ease and comfort it is to be in you."  
Eddie grimaced. "Let's try phrasing that differently next time, yeah ?"  
Venom continued with no indication that he would listen in the future. "I think the only reason we worked together as well as we did is because we had the exact same aim: To save your weak, skinny butt."  
"Gee, my weak skinny butt is real grateful."  
"As it should be. Still, if we were to bond at this moment, I don’t think we would have been compatible. Infact, I probably would not have even had the self-restraint to not take a few nibbles here and there. All that coiled purpose, and slaked with the adrenaline of the chase. She’d have been absolutely delicious." Eddie could practically hear him smacking his lips. “Although no where as tasty as you,” Venom tacked on kindly. Eddie thinks that’s the way he intended it atleast. It's still nothing short of unnerving. And then he feels himself blush at the thought of Anne and tasty in the same sentence. Venom, surprisingly doesn’t comment, although he strongly radiates a disembodied smugness from the recesses of Eddie's mind. It was strange, Eddie mused, how Venom could sometimes make himself so obvious that it was difficult to separate his own emotions from that of the symbiotes'. And yet Venom could recede so deep into Eddie's being, so completely incognito, that he never even felt a brush of consciousness, much like the way it was the first time they had bonded after the lab.  
The lab, with its eerie lighting and caged people. Maria. He sent up a small prayer for her. Eddie had no idea of what they had done with her body, but he figured that this was probably the only semblance of last rites that she would receive at all. He wasn’t religious per se, but he believed in a higher power. Something that was more mysterious, powerful and altogether more intangible than any gods of lightning and aliens and monsters and superhumans that semi-regularly performed unearthly feats of their own on his planet. Maria had mentioned something about a sister in the San Francisco post office. Maybe he could track her down, tell her what had happened. He would try at very least, Eddie decided.  
Venom on his part, silently mulled over everything that Eddie had conceptualized from god to God.  
“She was a friend of mine. Not close or anything, but still.” Eddie said into the quiet.  
“I’m sorry,” Venom offered after a long period of silence. He said it with no remorse, only acceptance of his actions.  
Eddie wonders why he doesn’t feel angry with Venom. Suppresses the almost knee-jerk urge to tell him that it wasn’t his fault (the way he'd tell another human) that he was acting on instinct. The instinct to simply take and take and take from an available food source when it served no other purpose, being a poor host match. But he stops himself from trying to rationalize an alien instinct to the alien itself, when he as a human has no understanding of that same instinct in its original form, only grasping at it after parsing it through a prism of human emotions. It was, Eddie thought, an intergalactic form of mansplaining. The notion is ridiculous. For all that they’ve been through together in their short time as host and symbiote, Eddie doesn’t know much abut Venom and vice versa.  
“Tell me about yourself,” he asks Venom.  
“Let me show you instead,” Venom replied.  
And show he did, at every available opportunity that they had. The way Eddie interacted with people, understood situations, reacted to them – every single thing is juxtaposed with Venom’s interpretations of the same. How he feels about people, places, things. Even the way he perceives his physical environment is different; his senses are different- sharpened, saturated, a little off-kilter at times.  
Venom was surprisingly sensory. It made even mundane events like taking a shower or drinking coffee stick in his head. Remembering information, events, facts, numbers was much easier because of how all five of his senses were engaged suddenly. It made for very vivid dreams. Eddie frequently woke feeling tired, like he'd lived an entire day all but physically. Sometimes, he dreamed of Venom’s memories. Which was its own flavour of strange too. Like when he dreamed of Venom’s time in space. Except he doesn't perceive space as a human in a space shuttle would, merely a black expanse with distant pinpricks of starlight. Space is loneliness and the feeling of isolation from his own kind even when on a rock full of his species. A keen perception of lack of any atmospheric pressure, which allows him to become more in three dimensions that his otherwise shapeless form would allow. He can feel his every molecule, each an entirety of his cumulative being, a whole unto itself ready to spring to life if even all of him but a single one is destroyed, left buried in the marrow of a compatible host and waiting to spring to life again. It's disconcerting at times, to feel an emotion that he knew to not be his own, but which felt indistinguishable from his own anyway, until he consciously thought back to the origin of it, and found none.  
Like the chill he would sometimes get when he overheated under a blanket on an otherwise cold night. Except the cold was like that of fear, only in his extremities and accompanied by an elevated heart rate. It's sobering to feel how primal Venom's fear of fire is that even the merest incidence of too much heat that he cannot directly regulate himself induces a type of alien fight-or-flight reflex, which is made all the more confusing by being translated into his human physiology. After one particularly vivid dream, about a barren home planet with so much nothing on it that even the pain of being skewered straight through the middle while fighting to never return to that nothing, to prevent any event that would cause that nothing eat up the muchness that was earth, Eddie wakes up to find himself encased in Venom, the way he is in a fight. Venom doesn’t say anything, but Eddie can feel his phantom embarrassment as the ‘mask’ recedes. He feels protected, but not shoved to the corner of his own head anymore, unlike the way it was before. More like he's shotgun rather than the driver, but not relegated to the backseat when Venom takes over.  
Venom true to his word, doesn’t take things for granted. Abstractions like music and how it makes one feel, beauty, the feeling of flying on the bike - all are carefully filed away for further rumination.  
And Eddie for his part finds himself explaining things to Venom very careful to keep his own biases out. Biases he didn’t even know he had until he made a conscious effort to be neutral. It disturbed him to think that he’d been unconsciously maybe bringing out these prejudices in his work, in the way he asked his questions and portrayed their conclusions to fit into a narrative more in line with his own.  
Not on purpose of course, but still worrying now that he was suddenly made aware of it. It was like being a child again, seeing things as Venom saw them with none of his human, American, Eddie Brock prejudices, and yet without the naivety of a child either. Venom seemed to understand that although he might have chosen a new home, the home had yet to choose him.  
They manage to wrangle a new apartment. Tiny, a starter flat really, but neat and homely and in a much better part of the city than his old one. The neighbors go to Sunday mass and don’t play thrash metal at odd hours of the night. He manages to get out most of his stuff that had survived the invasion of his old flat and the subsequent sweepdown by Treece and his men.  
He can't find the engagement ring though, and searches increasingly frantically until he thinks to check the pockets of the raggedy jeans he’d been wearing the night of the Incident, as he’s begun referring to the fight in his own head. It's in the front right pocket, exactly where he left it. With a sudden jolt, Eddie wondered if Anne had found it when she and Dan had undressed him to get him into pajamas at their place. Anne had always remembered to take her stuff out of her pockets before throwing it into the laundry basket, human miracle that she was. She’d constantly lament the mess of flakes the clothes would come out covered in after a wash, because he’d forgotten to take the Kleenex out of his pocket. Anne had never been the type to go though his pockets, (she'd always respected his privacy even when they were a stone’s throw away from husband and wife. All the more reason to hate him for what he’d done, Eddie thought) but if it were her turn to do the laundry, she’d always empty his pockets and leave the stuff in a neat little pile for him to come and collect later.  
If she’d found the ring, she hadn’t let on. Eddie decides that there are some answers even he doesn’t need. He pointedly ignores the frustration emanating out of Venom, but who keeping his word doesn’t actually say anything.  
Everything was new, immensely fascinating and extremely challenging. As a child Eddie had always dreamed about going to another country on cultural exchange, of unravelling and exploring and learning to make sense of an unfamiliar situation. It was one of the things that had drawn Eddie to journalism in the first place. For what its worth, Eddie thought wryly, the alien version was more than a dream come true.  
And Venom’s education in all things human was just as overwhelming. His first time on the internet was particularly memorable. Eddie decided to start small, ease him into what people usually did online rather than throwing him into the deep end with something like 4chan in the first go.  
YouTube. Google. What could go wrong. They try googling themselves, partly to see if the incidents involving them were newsworthy enough to warrant the extra caution at night and partly to pander to their collective vanity. Unfortunately, Big+Black+Scary+San Francisco is specific enough to lead them to the footage of that first transformation.  
“Remember, one of the biggest sources of interesting information about footage is usually in the comments.” Eddie tells Venom as the scroll down.  
“What’s Darude-Sandstorm ?” Venom asks interestedly.  
“An example of how we're undergoing reverse evolution as a species,” Eddie tells him absentmindedly. Some of the audio was still workable and people had picked up the sibilant We are Venom and are calling them by their correct name atleast. Mercifully, the video had been in poor light with terrible camera work. A lot of the exchange between Treece’s mooks and Venom was drowned out by the panting and constant stream of cussing by whoever had recorded the video. It's impossible to tell that is was Eddie, but the hulking, slick black form of Venom is unmistakable. Eddie felt a disembodied sense of satisfaction. He sent out a tendril of his own curiosity back. “My butt looks great from that angle,” Venom told him.  
“You’re such a damn peacock.” Venom is getting better at similes, so that sentence doesn’t give him pause like it once would and prompt a whole lecture on birds of India.  
“No, but its not just me who thinks that. Look at that comment.” Venom points out.  
  
'Venom is hot but like, hes a bad boy type, hes the type you dont bring home to your parents. thats when youre purely monsterfucking and thats it. you dont settle down with this thing.'  
Eddie doesn’t need glasses but he seriously considered getting a prescription in that moment.  
“Ooh, look. They like my tongue,” Venom coos.  
'everyone wants to fuck venom bc w a tongue like that u know he will eat u out right'  
“I would just plain eat you, though.” He added thoughtfully. And then delightedly, “Eddie ! We must find this one ! They want me to eat them !”  
“‘If y’all think I wouldn’t let him ear me like a ham sandwich then you are sorely mistaken’” Eddie read out faintly.  
“I mean. They say ear, but I'm sure they mean eat, given the context.” he says hopefully.  
Eddie is scared to scroll down further but Venom shoots out one of his tentacle things and continues down gleefully. (Eddie determinedly decides that he needs a new name for the tendrils of shadow that Venom uses as limbs. He’s heard about Tentacle Porn and it's enough that he doesn’t want to find out more.)  
And then they reach The Comparisons. It deserves the capitalization even in his own head.  
'I’ve seen posts lumping tall-dark-and-deadly (am just gnna call him?her?it??? TDD for convenience’s sake) & the fish monster from shape of water together into the same category as pennywise and I must say it is…. Astounding to even imply they are all on the same level whatsoever like….  
pennywise fuckers are the lowest of the low like… a monster that is ugly asf and just eats kids & minorities? hard pass. disgusting.  
TDD fuckers are a little better bc he’s got the whole tongue & teeth thing going for him but yr still gonna get eaten at the end of the day so? u know. unless ur into that  
shape of water monster? the good gender neutral fish god? he’s the ONLY valid one out of the bunch you fuck him you get the package deal. get you a fish god that can kill for you, die for you, make you immortall so you can be together forever. get you a fish god with a sensitive side who will treat you R I G H T  
Reply- I mean, if you wanna talk about ‘fuck, marry, kill’…  
Reply- this is the funniest possible response to this post it belongs to you now  
Reply- Hey Hey now, im gonna be that 1% that holds out for him being friendly to people who aren’t chasing and actively trying to kill him by the looks of it.. Fuckable and Friendly, 10/10 would recommend, amirite ?  
Venom giggles. It’s a terrifying sound. “I’m glad I nearly died for this planet. You humans are absolutely wild ! And have great taste.” He snickered.  
“Jesus didn’t die for this,” Eddie whispers.  
***  
After that, Venom becomes something of an expert at online stalking. He starts out small, stalking just himself initially. Venom doesn’t need to sleep the way Eddie does, and he wakes up sometimes with the glow of the laptop screen washing over his face, and the most disturbing jumble of textposts and gifs which Eddie himself never looked floating around in his head. A couple of Venom’s tendrils may be tapping away softly. Sometimes, Venom will even apologize for waking him up with excess information of whoever it is that he’s been stalking. He sets up a parental lock, but Venom just googles how to circumvent it anyway. Eddie blames it on the teaching a man to fish crap.  
***  
“Hey Eddie, What are furries ?”  
“Lets not find out ok?”  
***  
“Hey Eddie. What’s Tumblr ?”  
“NO.”  
***  
Venom goes through a Llamas with Hats phase. He insists Eddie find him a Carl plushie. Eddie gets him the Carl plushie. And then Venom insists that Eddie get himself a Paul Plushie. “So that we match,” Venom tells him helpfully.  
Eddie weeps. Venom licks the tears off his face.  
(Venom eventually moves onto Happy Tree Friends and Mr. Salad Fingers and Eddie seriously considers paying actual money to an actual therapist and not Mrs.Chen’s pirated knockoff meditation CD’s. Yes he’d checked, they're the pirated versions of knockoffs of actual CD’s. He’d been going through a bit of a low phase)  
***  
Eventually though, Venom finds something abouth himself on the internet that he doesn’t like. It launches him into a massive tantrum  
“Why would you even google Venom plus Eyes ?” Eddie asks bemused.  
Venom wails.  
All the animals within a 20 meter radius of their flat yowl and possibly pass out.  
***  
Eddie’s introduces Venom to clean, pure, innocent black and white movies in a bid to prevent further brain damage to both of them, but mostly himself. They start with the classics, like Roman Holiday, everything of Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chaplin that he can download, I Love Lucy and they make their way closer and closer to present day. Venom develops a deep love for Monty Python and Mel Brooks. The more irreverent the better. Eddie never thought he'd see the day when he dreamed about men with a Hitler moustaches and liked it, but it's preferable to the earlier stuff. He worked during the day, and gave Venom free reign over his laptop at night, sleeping while Venom snuck his alien form out to watch. It was sort of adorable to see earbuds stuck directly into the sides of Venom’s head, considering he had no external ears.  
***  
After the Incident (Eddie is going to have to start numbering these or get more creative with the titles) in Mrs.Chen’s shop, they receive a steady supply of free chocolate. She still charges for the Tater Tots, but it’s with a 45% discount, so it's still Ok.  
***  
“Lets go to China. Since you won't let me eat people.”  
“Its case by case with people, you know that. Why do you want to go to China.”  
“I want to eat the Three Squeaks.”  
“What.”  
Venom shows Eddie the webpage.  
Eddie throws up and then agrees to go looking for a rapist or two that night.  
***  
“Hey Eddie. Can I eat that old guy’s dog ?”  
“I thought you liked the old guy. Like, he’s your type of crazy about the whole thing with Anne.”  
“Hah! So you admit that you have a thing with Anne ! ”  
“I had more than just a thing with Annie, we were to be married for crissakes ! Emphasis on past tense.”  
Venom sniffs.  
“Yeah I like the old guy. He’s nearly as great as I am. But his dog annoys me. Barky little rat.”  
“You know, you're like one of those high maintenance girlfriends.”  
“Why, thankyou. Now can I eat the dog ?”  
***  
He never did go to see Anne for the contract, but he does visit eventually. And then it becomes a not-routine of sorts, but not a rarity either. They avoid the cliché, for the most part. The story on the Life Foundation breaks within a week of him going to meet Lewis. It's still the first of any channel, a complete and cohesive account of the incident backed with evidence, and he watches it with them at their apartment, even as his phone begins to buzz with congratulatory messages from industry names who didn’t give a shit if he was dead or alive in the last half year, and with offers from rival networks. Lewis is over the moon. Eddie is savagely glad that he’s getting a chance to replay Lewis for taking that first gamble on hiring him, that he’s cleared that debt to Lewis by breaking the story of a lifetime for him. He likes Lewis honestly, the way you’d like a baby cobra. It's not the most apt metaphor, but Eddie had always known that Lewis for all his charm would pick the side of his bread that was buttered, and if that meant that Eddie was burnt toast, then out he’d go.  
Not a lot of journalists who did written pieces broke into the higher paying and greater visibility positions of TV journalism, that too with their own show; he’s apparently regressing, and at the peak of his career that too. Or that’s the narrative he hears whispered after he leaves Lewis fuming when he quits the Network. Eddie tries not to bounce as he walks out of the lobby. Richard fills him on the buzz going on in the Network when they meet for a beer later that evening.  
“You’ve really poked the hornet’s nest this time Eddie,” he shakes his head. ”Brass balls, you got. Just hope they stay shiny, if you know what I mean,” he hiccoughed. He was five beers in already. “What’re you gonna do now ?”  
Eddie shrugged and spun his bottle cap around. “What I should have done a long time ago. Not gotten comfortable. Kept reinventing myself.”  
Richard eyes him suspiciously. “’S the kind of thing those superheroes in tights say. You gon’be a hero Eddie ?”  
Eddie grinned.  
“Nah. We got enough of those already.”  
***  
The wind off the bay is chilling and salty in the predawn air. Eddie doesn’t feel anything other than toasty warm as he watches the horizon lighten thought Venom’s eyes.  
“Are you still afraid of heights ?” Venom asked him as they looked down from the summit of the pillar of the Golden Gate bridge. They couldn't see the bottom with the fog curling out below their feet. The wind beat at them. Venom didn’t give an inch.  
“Yeah, duh.” Eddie tells him, pulse holding slow and steady.  
“Good.” Venom purred.  
And then they’re tipping forward, the fog rushing up to meet them as they let gravity have its fifteen milliseconds of fame before Venom catches him, like he always will.

**Author's Note:**

> Don’t google the Three Squeaks dish if you’ve eaten recently. Or will be eating. Or if you plan to have any kind of future relationship with food in general. Trust me.  
> Totally google- Venom+eyes if you haven't already.  
> Nightmare fuel - Happy Tree Friends and Mr Salad fingers.
> 
> :)


End file.
